Trump’s Executive Orders Bulldoze Our Democracy

Donald Trump wasted no time in 2025 showing America exactly what his second term would look like: A full-frontal assault on democracy, decency, and especially women. In just a few months, a flood of executive orders has dismantled basic protections, erased hard-fought rights, and made it clear that when Trump talks about “Making America great again,” he means dragging it back to an era where women were powerless and democracy was just a buzzword. 

First came Executive Order 14182 — a brutal revival of the Hyde Amendment. Federal funding for abortion services? Gone. Protections for women seeking reproductive healthcare? Shredded. In one stroke of a pen, Trump threw millions of low-income women under the bus, ensuring that reproductive freedom is once again a luxury reserved for the rich and privileged. 

But he wasn’t finished. Executive Order 14168,  branded as “Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” officially erased protections for transgender and non-binary Americans. It mandates that every federal agency recognizes only “biological male” and “biological female,” as defined by Trump’s hand-picked bureaucrats. The White House Gender Policy Council? Dismantled. Gender identity? Invalidated. 

Trump’s message to women and LGBTQ+ people is chillingly clear: Your existence is up for debate, and your rights are expendable. 

Then, under the guise of “protecting women’s sports,” Trump signed Executive Order 14201, banning transgender women from competing. Forget fairness — this is about controlling bodies, fueling culture wars, and turning marginalized people into political punching bags. These orders are not protecting anyone; they’re codifying cruelty. 

The attacks don’t stop at the body — they reach deep into the workplace, too. Trump’s administration nuked disparate impact protections, gutting the legal tools women and minorities use to fight systemic discrimination. Policies that discriminate “accidentally” but overwhelmingly harm women? Now legally bulletproof. If you think you’re safe because you’re not directly named, think again. The whole idea of equal opportunity is being dismantled in real time. 

And let’s not forget the all-out war on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Federal agencies have been ordered to shut down DEI programs, labeling them “divisive” while conveniently ignoring that the real division is created by systematic exclusion. Trump’s America doesn’t want to fix inequality — it wants to pretend it never existed. 

This isn’t just about women’s rights; it’s about whether democracy still means anything in this country. 

Executive orders are supposed to be tools for governance, not battering rams against human rights. Trump’s spree of orders bypasses Congress, bulldozes public debate, and concentrates power in the hands of one man with a grudge against progress. 

When women are stripped of their autonomy, when vulnerable communities are thrown to the wolves, and when legal protections vanish overnight, democracy itself is bleeding out. 

If you believe in freedom, equality, and the idea that the government should work for its people, then Trump’s 2025 executive orders should terrify you. If women’s rights were the first to fall, yours are next. 

Wake up, America. The future of democracy depends on it.

Nadia Hussein earned her degree in Psychology and Women & Gender Studies from UNC Chapel Hill, where she learned to spot red flags—both emotional and political. Now a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Hartford, she spends her spare time diagnosing the Trump Administration’s war on women’s rights and translating it into plain English: Power in the hands of a narcissist.

Photo by Ethan Gregory Dodge on Unsplash